Burned toast shuts Tube Station

Ah, could that explain the chaos at KX when I was coming home after the Acton meet?

Perhaps instead of spending £Lots on extra training someone should just invest in a new (autopopup) toaster!!!

The fire detection system is fine as far as a fire detection system goes. However, positioning such things as smoke and heat detectors in an area meant for cooking is not ideal. An extractor fan was quickly installed to prevent future occurances of activation.

Mind you, there was one evening a few years back when I microwaved one of those tasteless hot-dog things and, whilst munching away on it a team of fire officers came bounding into the office. Apparently the "twitch" of the detector was enough to call the fire brigade but not enough to actually trigger the alarm. That too has been corrected.

Certainly one of the King's Cross incidents was when I was on duty, and was not so much connected to someone burning the toast, more to do with someone burning the toaster - it was unfortunately left on a cooking hob that had been used and melted.

But, then again, accidents happen both in the home and at work, and surely this story should look from the point of view that our fire detection systems do work and do keep people safely away from any danger, however big or small. How quickly the comparisons of events 23 years ago disappear.

Got to be said. Saw this story quite high up on the news agenda. Now the planes are in the sky and the politicians are doing the same day-in, day-out, the question has to be asked - was this quite a slow news day. Not exactly new stories or much to be made of them.

It reminded me of when I was a student. We would get fined £70 every time a flat activated the fire alarm. Our demands of £70 each for when the cleaner burnt her toast at 7am one morning went unheeded....

To be fair I have to say that it can happen to the best of us! One night I was despatched with my gang to do some installation work at Hampstead station and I was completely unaware of the infra red smoke detector beams at the bottom lift landing. I needed to run some cable and setup and climbed a small stepladder to examine the existing ceiling cabling. Next thing I knew the Station Supervisor was on the PA because I had put my head through the beam! It was somewhat embarassing but I learnt a little more about the myriad fire detection systems in use at the time, we simply had never been told about those!

Which makes me wonder where the reporters are during those handful of closures each week which go un-noticed - except to those wishing to travel through.... aha now I see it . Silly me . They only get reported when one of the media is being inconvenienced ;D

............or even beans in the toaster! I bet someone's tried it at some time.

I witnessed a trainee DMT (who is now a DSM) butter his bread and then put it in the toaster in Baker Street canteen. He then stood there scratching his head wondering why smoke and flames were coming from the toaster! You couldn't make these things up! ;D

In light of the above from our learned LU controllers I take back all I said, and perhaps in-depth training on toaster use IS the way to go....

For fear of going off (LU) topic, on Saturday in a Kent hotel, I saw a female "guest" put a croissant in the toaster so that she could warm it up - result - smoke and flames - and a replacement toaster PDQ!

(We were staying there because of the Spa Valley Railway event on Saturday, where 0-6-0PT L99 in LT colours was running, and also one of the two T Stock cars. Flat car F397 and brake van B560 also made an appearance - an enjoyable day).

The sensors used in kitchens are often of a different type, which measure heat and/or "see" flames rather than smoke. I think they cost significantly more than a bog standard smoke detector, though. Obviously things may well be different on underground stations!

Isn't there a two stage fire alarm at stations? Didn't inspector sands give enough time to establish that the smoke was from burnt toast?